Disease Facts Generator

• [Disease fact 1] In 1950 the U.S. NAVY sprayed a cloud of bacteria over San Francisco in a biological warfare experiment under “Operation Sea-Spray”, just to see what happened. 11 patients at a local hospital developed very rare, serious infections and it led to the death of 1 patient. Cases of pneumonia also increased in San Francisco after the experiment.

  Disease, Governmentsource

• [Disease fact 2] Syndrome K was a fake disease that Italian doctors made up to save Jews who had fled to their hospital seeking protection from the Nazis. Syndrome K “patients” were quarantined and the Nazis were told that it was a deadly, disfiguring, and highly contagious illness. They saved at least 20 lives.

  Disease, Nazisource

• [Disease fact 3] Dogs can get “Limber Tail,” sore tail muscles from working out too hard, often resulting from swimming, and can cause the dog to have such a sore tail that touching the tail may result in the dog crying and the tail may not wag for days.

  Animals, Diseasesource

• [Disease fact 4] Heartburn actually has nothing to do with the heart at all. It occurs when the sphincter muscle at the end of the esophagus abnormally relaxes and fluids from the stomach, such as stomach acid and bile, flow back up into the esophagus. It is more likely to happen when bent over or lying down.

  Disease, Peoplesource

• [Disease fact 5] The Dutch 16th-century painting "The Adoration of the Christ Child" is speculated to feature a shepherd and an angel with Down syndrome.

  Art, Diseasesource

• [Disease fact 6] There were two pandemics running together during World War 1. ”Encephalitis Lethargica” affected 5 million and killed over 1.5 million. The patients were conscious – yet not fully awake; they would sit motionless, totally lacking initiative, affect, or desire. They registered the inputs with profound indifference.

  Disease, Warsource

• [Disease fact 7] The Moscow plague riot of 1771 was caused by an outbreak of bubonic plague. The city’s economy was mostly paralyzed because industries had been closed down. All of this was followed by acute food shortages, leading to huge crowds rioting, and demands for the elimination of quarantines.

  Disease, History, Riotssource

• [Disease fact 8] There is a mutation of the gene CCR5, called Delta 32, which introduces a premature stop codon into the gene. This premature coding means cells that have this mutation couldn't be infected with the HIV virus. Individuals with a homozygous CCR5-Delta 32 mutation are completely resistant to the HIV virus.

  Disease, Humanbodysource

• [Disease fact 9] There has been a reported case of human-to-human cancer transmission, where a surgeon cut his hand while resecting a tumor and seeded the patient's cancer cells on his hand.

  Disease, Peoplesource

• [Disease fact 10] The rate of lung cancer is lower in Japan than in the US despite a higher percentage of smokers in Japan. This is known as Japanese Smoking paradox

  Countries, Diseasesource

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